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RE Becky Smith
Sat, 01/05/2010 - 14:46
#1
Hello ladies,
I am posting a link to an article on the daily mail about this woman victime of the post code. I was wondering what can be done to make the goverment provides with excellent health care for all. Any ideas
Thanks
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Thanks for posting this link.
I have no words, it beggars belief that anyone can be refused a treatment that can extend life, and for a good amount of time too. I know there are budgets and there isn't a finite amount of money in the pot. But how much is spent on employing yet more managers in the nhs? I know of at least one trust that is cutting budgets but increasing numbers of management staff - this can't be right and how can it be justified? I hope the article attracts a lot of attention and maybe cause a rethink for this lady and all the others in the same position.
I am so thankful that I was able to have the best treatment available when I was diagnosed, just one injection was hundreds of pounds and I had 3. And the cost of chemo is huge. Blimey, we're all paying our taxes and national insurance and yet it all depends on what part of the country you live as to the level of treatment you have access to. Makes me soooooo mad but very angry too.
What's the answer? Less spent on nuclear weapons and MP's salaries for a start maybe?
x
If she is now living back with her parents on the Isle of Wight and the local PCT won't pay for SIRT then why not rent somewhere in a nearby area (5 miles away on the mainland?) that will?
Isle of Wight is tiny for heaven's sakes - no wonder the PCT can't afford to fund it.
I know renting a property somewhere else isn't perfect and I know it doesn't tackle the much larger and more complex problem of "postcoding" but it will get her the treatment she wants without having to raise the full cost of treatment.
She has my deepest sympathies - as do all women who are terminally ill - especially when they have been misdiagnosed. But my hackles always rise at Daily Mail articles like this. This article also appears (in an almost identical form) in the Daily Telegraph. Enough said I think - given that this is election time.
I do think the postcode thing needs sorting out - but this story isn't like the case of Herceptin. NICE have not rejected SIRT as a form of treatment. Its use is discretionary based on the PCT you are in. If you are living somewhere as tiny as the Isle of Wight it is no wonder they can't find the money to pay for it.
I think Isle of Wight comes under Hampshire strategic health authority in which case her appeal will probaly be successful.
Actually MSMolly, I think she was initially turned down by another PCT. In any case, I was under the impression that we have a National Health Service, so it shouldn't matter where you live in the UK.
Also I don't think it would be very practical for patients to start moving around the Country in search of PCT's that are willing to fund various treatments.
People always say that there is only so much money for health spending - but Governments over the years have squandered billions (The last Govt spent 70 billion on Government Advisors/Consultants alone). Also, denying treatment to people who are dying, when bankers are just about to coin millions in bonuses is frankly evil.